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Bill would add spaceports and testing facilities to Texas’ critical infrastructure list
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Summary
Senate Bill 1198 would designate spaceports and spaceflight testing facilities as critical infrastructure under state law, exposing damaging or disrupting such facilities to heightened civil and criminal penalties; the committee received testimony from SpaceX’s Starbase and left the measure pending.
Senate Bill 1198, introduced by the sponsor on the floor, would add spaceports — including testing facilities used in licensed spaceflight activities — to Texas’ statutory list of critical infrastructure facilities. The change would make interference with those facilities subject to civil liability and a range of criminal penalties already applied to other critical infrastructure such as airports and electric generating plants.
Sponsor remarks said the measure is intended to protect high‑value space facilities that support both commercial space operations and national security missions. The committee substitute clarifies that facilities used for engine testing and other spaceflight testing activities are included in the definition. The sponsor said the intent is to deter vandalism, protests that risk safety or interruption, and foreign‑actor interference at sites that support launches and spacecraft recovery.
Catherine (Kathy) Lueders, general manager of Starbase operations at SpaceX, testified in support. She described Starbase work on Starship — which she said is under contract with NASA as an Artemis human landing system element and also supports Department of Defense cargo and personnel missions — and told the committee these facilities are high‑value targets. “This means that damaging or disrupting a spaceport becomes a heightened criminal offense, helping to deter bad actors,” Lueders said.
Committee discussion included jurisdictional coverage questions; the sponsor confirmed the measure would cover existing Texas spaceports including Midland International, the Houston Spaceport, Blue Origin’s launch site in Van Horn and SpaceX’s Starbase at Boca Chica, as well as testing facilities. The committee took no formal vote and left the bill pending.
Ending: supporters described the bill as a security and economic‑development protection measure; the committee left the substitute pending for further consideration.
